Today, TikTok announced a number of changes to its service, including tests of new user-facing features that would force a refresh of the app’s primary algorithmic feed, known as the For You feed, and what it claims will be stronger enforcement against criminal actors. According to the firm, the modifications are intended to maintain the site secure and engaging for both users and producers.

TikTok finally getting serious against the abusers?

All significant social media platforms have content policies, although how strictly they are followed varies. People who break the rules and have their content removed or are subject to bans don’t always learn from their errors; instead, they just continue to break the rules. To lessen dangerous content on the network, TikTok’s enforcement system now includes a range of sanctions, such as temporary bans on posting and commenting.

Julie de Bailliencourt, TikTok’s global head of product policy, acknowledges in an announcement that creators have complained that the current system can be difficult to understand, particularly if they don’t frequently break the platform’s rules or have unintentionally broken the rules and are unsure of why they’ve been punished. Additionally, this technique is ineffective in deterring repeat offenders, according to the executive.

Repeat offenders often exhibit a pattern, according to de Bailliencourt’s investigation, which revealed that over 75% of them frequently violate the same policy category and nearly 90% of them constantly violate the same feature.

Therefore, TikTok will switch to a strike system that is comparable to YouTube. Creators will accumulate strikes as their content is removed in all bar the most extreme circumstances. They will be permanently barred if they accumulate a certain number of strikes for violating a product feature or policy (such as bullying or harassment). According to the business, the threshold will change based on the infraction and its ability to affect neighbourhood residents.

Videos that “promote or threaten violence, show or facilitate child sexual abuse material (CSAM), or portray real-world violence or torture” will still result in permanent bans from TikTok, according to the article.

Warnings to the creators

According to TikTok, a safety centre upgrade will allow creators to monitor their own strikes and the status of their accounts within the app. They can check their own status as well as the progress of any reports they’ve filed regarding other videos or accounts here. If they think the Safety Center erred in issuing them strikes, they can also challenge them. TikTok will alert the creator if they are about to receive a permanent ban.

In connection with this, the firm announced that it will start testing a new tool in a few regions that will let artists know which of their films have been flagged as ineligible for recommendation to users’ For You feeds, as well as the reasoning behind it.